The statue of Biju Patnaik and members of Lead Rourkela blacken the plaque bearing his wrong date of birth.

A statue of former chief minister Biju Patnaik in Rourkela has created controversy after it was discovered that the plaque on its plinth bears May 15, 1912, as his date of birth against the official date, which is March 5, 1916.

This led an organisation devoted to social causes - Lead Rourkela - to blacken the plaque. Its convenor Aira Mohanty said: "This is not a mistake but a blunder and it's inexcusable. We demand its immediate rectification."

The statue was installed on February 20, 1999, at the busy Sector 2 junction.

Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal